Tag: alpaca

Before diving into the alpaca, I wanted to highlight the difference between them and llamas. The two are related and can interbreed but there are also some important differences:

Alpaca tend to be smaller than llama

There are differences between face and ear shapes

They have been bred for different purposes; alpacas for fibre and llamas as pack animals. This means they have different fleeces; alpacas produce more fleece, it is finer and there are more variations in colour

Llamas are more independently minded than alpacas

But let’s focus on the alpaca. They are a bit like a cross between a sheep and a camel and are naturally found in Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and Chile. Their fleece is used to make clothing, rugs and wool, the latter has no lanolin so is good for people with allergies. The alpaca speaks of abundance and having the resources you need.

Alpacas are social animals, living in herds which have a territorial alpha male, females and young but which also sometimes include other species such as goats and sheep. It is thought that there may be a hierarchical social order within the group.

As a social species, communication is important and they use most of their body when communicating. This includes body language and spitting when distressed, when scared or to show dominance. In terms of vocalisations, they make a variety of sounds – humming, grumbling, clucking, screaming, screeching, bleeting, clicking… When another alpaca invades their personal space they snort (personal space seems to be important to alpacas) and when the male is making sex he ‘orcals’. Being able to express in a number of ways means they can warn the herd about danger and it is likely that the communication is also used to establish and/or maintain order within the pack.

We can learn from the alpaca that there are many ways to communicate and some of these will be unconscious. When you’re talking to loved ones, remember that you may be contradicting yourself through nonverbal messages. Also, let the alpaca stress the importance of personal space! We all have different boundaries and need different amounts of space and time alone and it is ok to tell someone you need them to leave you for a bit. It is also ok to ask someone if they need a bit of space – giving them this is an act of love and shows you care, even if sometimes all you want to do is be with that person.

Alpacas can be aggressive, and this has been exploited by farmers who use alpacas for sheep guarding duty. Whilst they can be aggressive, they are also gentle, intelligent and very observant. In addition to their sweet and peaceful nature, they only have bottom teeth so they can’t bite but of course this doesn’t mean they don’t fight… Males will fight to defend their hareem and engage in neck wrestling which can look ruthless and exhausting but their necks have specially thickened skin.

A wonderful thing I learnt about alpacas is that they are especially organised and neat, defecating in one designated place that becomes a communal dung pile, even if this means walking further away than they might need to.

So often humans bring disaster to the animals I’m looking at and the alpaca is no exception; Spanish conquistadors brought disease to the Andes which turned out to be fatal to alpacas and their populations plummeted. Today there are no known wild alpacas.

As alpaca’s were heavily relied on, they were used in rituals and religious practices. They were thought to be a gift from Pachamama, an earth goddess, and archaeological evidence shows they were sacrified.

A legend tells of how alpacas came into the world. A goddess fell in love with a man but her father would only let them be together if he carer for her herd of alpacas. As well as this, he also had to carry a small animal for the rest of his life. The goddess came to earth and the alpacas would follow her. All was fine until the man, foolishly, set the small animal down. The goddess fled back to her home but the man tried to stop her and her herd of alpacas. Whilst he didn’t succeed in stopping her, he did stop a few of the alpacas from following her. These alpacas are the ancestors of those we have today.

Whilst the moral of the story is probably to honour your word and don’t put down the small animal, I do think it’s nice that in breaking his pact, the man gave us alpacas.

I got a new deck last week and the only card I’ve pulled has been the daughter of roots, equivalent to the page of pentacles. I’ve pulled it so many times that I feel as if it’s trying to hit me over the head with a message that I am just not getting. So, I thought I’d write a blog post and see if that helps me to figure things out! Given the insistence of this card, I’m going to have a look at all the decks I own so this will be a much more detailed, and longer, post than my normal tarot ones.

Rider Waite Smith and Pagan Cats

If you’ve been reading my blog a while, you’ll know I don’t like the RWS deck but I do acknowledge it can hold some interesting takes on cards. My closest deck is the Pagan Cats and I prefer this non human take although it does still have some of the aspects of RWS that I find problematic. In previous tarot card posts, I’ve considered these two decks separately, but in order to try and achieve some conciseness here, I’m going to merge them.

Both cards have a figure standing in a field, trees and mountains in the background and a yellow sky taking up much of the scene. The human figure of the RWS card stands tall in the centre, a golden pentacle balanced on or just above his hands. The cat again is dominant in the image, taking up a lot of space on the card, and is sitting with a forepaw resting on a pentacle. Her eyes are watching it intently and she seems to be focused on the pentacle to the exclusion of her surroundings. Michelle Tea describes the figure in the page of pentacles as being meditative, as transfixed by the pentacle and says that “extreme focus is the way to go when the page of pentacles pops up”. This student is fully immersed in their studies, fascinated by what they are learning and discovering. They are putting in the work for the pleasure of the work, not for the status or acknowledgement or prestige that might come from it.

I like that both characters are placed in the landscape as the pentacles are about earth and land and the physical side of the world. Both feel very steady and surefooted despite having the naivety of youth and a tendency to stumble that comes from inexperience.

For the Pagan Cats, the little white book reads: Someone who is learning something about the physical world, resources, or finances. We can see that the pentacle itself is representative of a resource, of money or some other thing that you can hold and touch. Throughout the tarot, pages are the cards of study, of the student, of exploring and of messengers. They are youth, they are newness and they are innocence. This page is learning the ways of the material world, of work, of health and money. Importantly, they are learning by doing, because the pentacles is all about the hands on experience, about learning from mistakes and of building up those skills.

“If the Page of Pentacles is appearing in your life as a person, you can depend on them. There may be something about this person that raises a bit of scepticism – their youth, their lack of experience, perhaps their very sheltered life. Regardless of that, their wish to apply themselves and make up for these deficits is real, and they possess the latent skills they need.”
– Michelle Tea

Wild Unknown

In the Wild Unknown Tarot, pages are called daughters, a convention I much prefer as it steps away from ideas of regal-ity and ruling and leading entire countries. A young deer stands under a rainbow, peaked by a pentacle. Like the RWS and pagan cats page, the deer isn’t in motion, she has paused and has a contemplativeness to her. Despite her youth and her unsteady legs, she is ready to meet the world. The use of a young deer reflects the child like way in which this deer explores and appreciates what’s around her. She is discovering and learning for the joy of doing so, she is curious and interested and wants to get out there and do stuff. Even though she’s depicted standing still, this little deer won’t stay still for too long. The rainbow over her head reflects her innocence, her optimism but as an earth card, we know there is a practical side to her.

She doesn’t expect the world to be all rainbows and unicorns. She knows she’ll have to put in the work, turn up on time and see things through. She will be reliable and trustworthy, practical and responsible but it is exactly these traits that will help her get where she wants to go.

Lumina Tarot

Here we find the maiden of pentacles instead of page or daughter! This seems to be the most variation I’ve had on any card I’ve written about! A young woman is sitting with her legs underneath her, a loose dress draped around her, her neck and chest mostly exposed. Her cupped hands are releasing flowers and her head is lifted skywards. Just behind her, a young looking bear rests with a pentacle on its forehead. The green of the card gives the scene a fresh, peaceful kind of feel.

The associated book says of the card: field of blossoming dreams and inspiration. And just knowing that, we get such a different vibe from this card that we have with the others we’ve looked at so far. The book goes on to discuss the manifesting of desires and visions into reality, birthing and nurturing projects, exploring ideas. Whilst you may feel excited and want to share all of these, remember that they are young, like the maiden, and need nourishing and protecting whilst they grow.

“You may have just come out of a winter period or time of introspection, and can now feel the stirring seeds of a project which requires exploration and energy.”

This echoes ideas I discussed when looking at bears; there is a time for thinking and a time for acting. And action is something that is crucial in our understanding of the maiden of pentacles. She is not just about pretty ideas and nice daydreams, she is about putting the work in and doing, not just imagining doing something. To turn potential into abundance requires you to act, to put one foot in front of another and to keep moving, slowly and steadily, forward.

Animal Totem Tarot

I will be looking at this card in more detail when I consider the alpaca, but for now, the message of the alpaca is:

“My mother says that all great things once started off wee, that small is not the opposite of large – it is the beginning. I know that I am not big enough yet to be of any real benefit, but over time I will become worth my weight in gold. Never think something is too small to be worth your time and effort, for you just never know what huge miracle it could unlock once it has reached full potential.”

I like this take on the page of pentacles. It ties in with what the lumina tarot is saying about taking little steps, slowly but surely and however small an action may seem, it can help you towards your goal. Returning to the idea of this card as student, we are all, always a student of something, none of us are masters of everything. Do not let this put you off trying something and do not expect to be able to do new things the first time you try. You cannot go from never running anywhere to completing a marathon without practice and planning and putting in the work and giving it time. In a fast-paced world, it’s easy to think we should be able to understand and do everything, for ourselves, instantly. But then we wouldn’t have professionals and experts. They become experts because they have spent time learning and working in that field and there are somethings that only come from experience, that you can never be taught or told.

Note that the alpaca is standing to one side of the pentacle and away from the baskets of wool, she knows that she’s not reached that stage yet and she is happy regardless. She knows that as she grows and learns and experiences, she will make steps towards the pentacle and towards producing the lovely wool that alpacas are known for.

Each card in this deck comes with some journal prompts and for the alpaca, one of these is what gifts are you learning to grow into?

Our Tarot

I’ve not written about this deck yet and it’s very different to my others but I loved the premise. I’ve not really used it yet so am not that familiar with the nuances but the basic idea is that each card features a collaged image of an historical woman. For the page of pentacles, this is Mary Lou Williams, not someone I knew before but that is in essence an important part of the deck – to raise awareness of overlooked women who’ve made important contributions to the world.

Mary Lou Williams was a self taught, very gifted pianist who was born in 1910 and was playing by the age of three…! Despite her innate talent, her gender stood in her way, holding her back from joining a band until the bandleader could be convinced to have a woman play. Regardless, she continued to play and work in the music industry, recording national hits, playing numerous gigs and producing music for other bands. She formed a record label and established a jazz festival as well as teaching at Duke University.

She had grown up in a struggling family with lots of other children and not that much money but regardless, she had seized upon, and created, opportunities, such as when at age 6 she began playing piano at parties. Where some depictions of the page of pentacles are about actually taking opportunities, this version is much more about seeking them out and spotting them, even when they are in unusual places. There’s also an element here of not letting convention stop you, don’t let others tell you it’s not appropriate or not right for you to pursue your passions. If there’s something you love doing, do it. Do it for the pleasure of doing it. Do it because you love it, not because of what money or status it’ll bring you.

“The page of pentacles encourages you to seek inspiration in your surroundings without being afraid to ask for help. How can you share your gifts and skills with others? What work do you find yourself most drawn towards?”– Our Tarot

The aspect of collaboration – performing with others, writing songs for others, producing music etc – is one I really like with this card. One of the things I love is learning with other people, you bounce ideas and thoughts off each other and deepen your understanding of the topic. I am also a big fan of merging subjects together, sort of making the topics collaborate as it were. When it comes to art, I have almost always engaged in mixed media, long before I knew it had a name. I love taking different strands, different threads and weaving them together, whether literally or in this case when I’m learning and sharing that knowledge.

As a very much aside, Mary Lou wrote a set of songs called the zodiac suite and as the Page of Pentacles is associated with Capricorn, I thought that might be interesting to listen to.

The Brady Tarot

Finally, we reach the deck which kickstarted the entire post, the Daughter of Roots from the Brady Tarot. Again, this is a very new deck and I’ve not had chance to get to know it yet, especially because I keep drawing the same card over and over!

On this card we have another bear! As well as a woodpecker (I’m going to be doing a woodpecker post at some point in the future). The book echoes a lot of what we’ve already seen:

“A student, either literally, or someone who likes to study and is fascinated by new things, new ideas or knowledge, without much concern for how to apply or use them. Though this study will likely involve commitment and hard work, the impetus does not come from the expected rewards but rather the joy of learning and the inner spirit of the subject.”

This is me down to the letter. I love learning and I do so because of an innate curiosity, a need to know rather than because I have to or because I want to do something with the knowledge. It is the experience, the fascinating discovery, that matters, not the outcome. Specifically, this version of the page of pentacles, is inviting us to dive into the mysteries of life, to study those things which are less obvious at first glance, to look deeper, such as you do when you step into the world of tarot.

The bear seems almost to be watching the woodpecker, who is perhaps weaving the lattice of branches, with wonder and admiration.

Even though the bear is in a tree, there is something about it that feels very grounded, despite being half on and half off, the bear seems to be at one with the tree. I also feel like the roots, echoing the lattice work, are a reminder to both go deeper, but also to remain down to earth. The back leg of the bear dangles towards the ground, almost instinctively drawn to stay steady.